zia volleyball

In the attic: Tanya, Adriana, MacKenzie, Kristy, Jenn, Kelli
In the basement: Megan, Madison, Erin, Samantha, Chelaine, Cassie

Diablos finish season with Silver Division Championship

Zia’s 14-Diablos battled through a long day of Regionals on April 24th at Phoenix College and came away with first place in the Silver Division, 7th overall out of 80+ teams.

The girls started their day with a three-team pool, and Peoria rival Arrowhead 14-Lady Bugs. The mismatch ended with the Diablos on the top side at 25-15, 25-8.

Next up was the Thunder 14-2 team who we had fought hard with early in the season at the Cactus Classic. They hung with us in game one, but our serves caught fire and we sped away from them, 25-19 in the first and 25-13 in game two.

Because of our seed, we played the Thunder 14-1’s team in our cross pool. Our season history with this team is thick. We beat them in three at the Cactus Classic, and lost to them in three the last time we played coming out on the short end of that one. The girls threw everything they had at them
The first game was as good as the Diablos had played all season. Their improvements were evident, and point for point, we eked out a 26-24 win. But credit Thunder for refocusing. They came out and scored the first 9 points of the next game and thumped us good, 9-25. With all the momentum their way, Thunder rolled up to an early 8-2 lead in the rally. But we battled back; a point for them, two for us, etc. We closed it to 11-9, but Thunder showed they were the better team this day, and scored a 10-15 win in game three.
Afterward, the Thunder coach came into our huddle and in a great show of sportsmanship and respect, lauded the Diablos telling them how much they had improved over the season.

So with that loss, we were destined for the Silver division, which we had our sights set on winning since the gold eluded us.

After a lengthy lunch and travel break for the other teams to show up, we reffed then played the East Valley Juniors 14-2’s team. In their continuing education of the world of sports, they took the team too lightly and showed the EVJO squad no respect at all. We held them off in game one 25-21, and lost to them in game two 25-27. After a few choice words, they got back down to business and held their end up with a 15-9 win.

That match and a little heart to heart behind us, we played the surprising Salvation Army Starlings team which had unseated two higher seeds to get to the Silver Championship. The Diablos showed great poise and despite being drop dead tired, gave a workmanlike performance winning the match 25-23, 25-18.

What took the sting out of our silver division championship was what I had heard the next day at the AVP tournament. Our only loss of the day came from the team that won the 14’s championship, Thunder’s 14’s team. With Grand Canyon and Arrowhead 13’s finishing ahead of us, and us beating them both throughout the season, the final season position isn’t indicative of how we would have truly finished. But life deals you the hand you have to play sometimes, and this was one of those times.

Between the athlete’s performance and effort, and the Parents support, this was a tremendous year. If you only measure your success by wins and losses, some might see it as mediocre, but when you consider we were probably the only 14’s team to be able to switch serve receive or defenses in mid match, and the incredible leap of skill that every girl took in one form or another, this was in my humble opinion quite a season.

From the lightning fast moves she showed at tryouts, Adriana is one of the girls that improved more than anyone. She worked hard at setting and became one of our 3. Her professionalism on the court and off typified her as an athlete.

MacKenzie, despite throwing my niece to the floor of the van in SoCal, (probably causing her irreparable mental distress), can always be counted on to get that pass or bang that serve in. She was reliable and also the consummate team player on the court and off.

Sam is another of the most improved team. At the beginning of the season, she struggled to get a serve over let alone in, couldn’t keep the ball in play and looked lost on the court often. By the end of the season, she was a dominant force in the middle with her blocking and her attacks. That shows what hard work and a good attitude can do for and athlete.

Erin is such a stabilizing factor for us. If we needed a pass, a reliable defender, a good serve or steady swing, it was Erin. She split time at libero all season and shined every chance she got. Always positive and reliable, she was a solid performer all season.

Tanya, despite her chilling stories of childhood angst, is one of our true leaders on the court. Her sets improved with each practice and she was counted on heavily throughout the season from the service line to the net. She never let the Diablos down.

Jenn is the “kamikaze kid” on defense. I’ve never known a 14 year old so willing to throw her body around to get the impossible dig. Her improvement defensively was amazing and her hustle on the court helped us over some big hurdles during the season.

Megan “came out” during our foray into SoCal. Always quiet and demure, she became ruthless and evil in those few days, to the point of making Tonya cry from fright on the bus back home. On the court, she showed a steely presence, rarely rattled, always ready when called upon. One of my two7th graders, she has quite a bright future if she can control her anger …

Chelaine is our workhorse all season. Her lethal jump serves and serious swings at the net were a big source of our success all season. Her defense improved throughout the year as did her shot selection. She was a leader by example all season and it will be fun to watch her volleyball progress in the coming years.

Kristy is our other 7th grader and another of our setters. No Fear was her trademark. No matter the situation, the time in the game, she went after it and always with positive results. Her sets improved a ton and led to our faster attacks. She still has another year in grade school if you can believe that!

Kelli is our primary force on the outside. One of our smarter players, she is as reliable as sunshine in Phoenix in July. Whatever was asked of her or pushed on her, she took it like the athlete she is and waited for more. All this in addition to being the biggest dork at the Christmas party and forcing Erin and her family to look for a new neighborhood to live in.

Cassie is the third on the most improved team. There wasn’t an area of volleyball that she didn’t improve in, skill by skill. The final day in SoCal, with us playing only one true middle, she played flawlessly and confidently. She showed her best always and was such a pleasure to have on the team.

One of our most valuable players, Madison was given a different spot several times during the season, and always shined. She was perhaps our most reliable all around player and with that came such a professional athlete’s attitude about team first. She gives everything she has at all times and she, like the rest, is a pleasure to coach.

Finally, this season wouldn’t have been nearly as fun or successful if not for my Coach Tonya. When I wanted to reprimand the young’ns for some on the court issues, she reminded me of what the sentences are for such crimes in Arizona. She was valuable in both getting and giving information and brought a heavy hand and bright light to our team this season. I am forever in her debt.

For the final time this season, thanks to the Diablos for their sacrifices on and off the court, and to you Parents who make this happen, no matter what your daughters think.

Till next time…….

Diablos in SoCal

Your Zia Diablo’s took to the Coast last weekend and not only found some sun, some sand, but themselves a little bit too.

After a bus ride through the wasteland known affectionately to our driver J.W. as Interstate 10, and a quick chow down in Blythe, we hunkered down for the night only to wake up the next morning and head to….a mall!!! What is the Pacific Ocean without some new clothes and shoes, huh?

We came to Cal State Fullerton and settled into our 4 team pool. We were seeded 11th going into the 14 Club division, perhaps a bit high considering only one of our players had ever been to a National Qualifier before. We took on the Club West 14- Gold team. We shook off some obvious nerves and butterflies, (maybe sea gulls?) and eked out a first game 25-22 win. After that, we settled in and withstood a furious rally and held on to take the match 25-22.

Match two saw us against the Mizuno Long Beach 14-Blue team. No excuses, we saw them play before us, got over confident and then got embarrassed. We lost game one ugly 17-25. After a few line up shuffles, and a stern huddle, the girls settled down and took care of business. They won game two at 18 and trounced the Long Beach girls in set 3, 15-5. We were 2-0 in our first qualifier, but both Tonya and I didn’t feel we had played real well in either win.

Next up was the Amazon 14-1 team from Long Beach. They were a very disciplined and well coached team. They nipped us in game one 24-26 and again, 22-25 in game two. We played the best we had that day, but at that time, they were the better team. We herded into the van and headed back to the hotel for the 11 p.m. bed check.

We went to the beach the next day, the actual beach, Huntington I believe. (I was lost most of the weekend because Tonya can’t read a map or convey the correct premise of north and south…!) The girls braved the ice bergs and narwhals and went in, furthering their chances of getting a cold, pneumonia or worse. As the morning warmed up, the girls took, to the sand and played actual beach volleyball, even going as so far as to take on the coaches and Parents in a little duel in the sand. When the blood dried and the therapists had all left, the Diablos nipped the experienced athletes by mere fractions. The smack talk continued the rest of the morning while we settled in for lunch and headed into round 2.

As it turned out, our first match would be the defining moment in our season, but not in the way you’re thinking. We took on the number 2 seed in the tournament, the Commerce Crush 14-1’s team. With guns blazing, the girls gave this team everything they could handle in the first game, losing 24-26. Then the wheels came off! Axles dragging on the ground, drooped shoulders, lack of effort and competitiveness abound, we laid down and got stomped 14-25. We headed outside for a quick impromptu “clear the air, get off your chest” kind of meeting. When we were done, the Diablos seemed to have the “devil” back in them. (Note: Crush went on to win the 14-club championship and earn a berth in the National tournament)

We came onto the court to play the Temecula Valley 14-Donna team. We took game one playing with more emotion then we had in weeks, 25-22. We dropped game two, 21-25, but the team didn’t get down on themselves. They stayed positive. It had also been weeks since we had won a close match. Our record in 3rd sets against good teams was horrific. But this afternoon, we held it together. Showing the confidence they had in themselves and each other, we nipped T-Valley 15-13 in the third.

The last team in our pool was the Starlings Carson 14’s. They were scrappy, but we took it to them. Again, in a very close game, the team showed their poise, winning a nail biter 30-28 and 25-23. Proving to themselves they could win the close ones may have been the most important lesson coming out of the day. With the win over Starlings, we assured ourselves a second straight second place pool finish and we headed into the Gold division on Sunday.
With our late arrival back to the hotel, our early pool (8 a.m.) AND this wacky thing in California called daylight savings time where we all lost an hour of sleep; the girls had every reason to mail it in on Sunday. Against the TCA 14-ASO team, (by the way making it a sweep of playing only California teams the whole tournament…), we hung with them early, but they were bigger and for this day better. We battled and our effort level never wavered. We walked away with our heads held a little higher than when we arrived despite dropping a 14-25, 19-25 final match.

We ended up tied for 9th place, upping our original seeding of 11th. More importantly, the girls gained a new or lost confidence in each other and themselves.

We set our sights on Regionals now and get ready to wreak some havoc on those poor unsuspecting teams that have written us off.
Stay tuned…..

The 2003-04 Zia Diablos are an embodiment of what the elite student athlete is. Not only have they excelled this season on the court, being one of Arizona's finest 14's teams and taking 9th at the SoCal Qualifer a few weeks back, but they have a average GPA of 3.945 with 8 of the team having a perfect 4.0 while taking accelerated classes and many of them also playing other school sports like softball, track and basketball. Congratulations to these amazing young ladies. They are our future, and we're quite proud of them.

The 30th Annual Scholastic Bowl hosted by the City of Glendale and
sponsored by the Glendale Kiwanis Club as held last month. Sixteen (16) schools from around the valley competed in several rounds this year during February and March at the City of Glendale's Chamber of Commerce in downtown Glendale. The competition tests students' knowledge of topics ranging from sports and spelling to geography and Science. For the first time in the 30-year history of this event, Desert Valley Elementary in Glendale won the event.

Their team consisted of 10, eighth-grade students from Linda Siegwald's PI (Gifted) class. On this team were 3 members of Club ZIA's Diablos
volleyball team: Erin Clair, Madison Orton, and Jenn Robinson. Way to go, girls, by being a part of another winning team!

The final round of this event is going to be broadcast on Channel 11 on
the following dates/times:

Tonight, Friday, April 9th @ 9:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 15th @ 2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 20th @ 9:30 p.m.
Friday, April 30th @ 9:00 a.m.

The Diablos Bedeviled Again…

The Diablos again took on Arizona’s best 14’s teams and came up short once again finishing 5th in the March 13th Region tournament held at Explorer Middle School in Paradise Valley.

The Diablos started their spring break a bit early against the Region’s number 2 team, the Az. Thunder 14-1’s team. Uninspired, slow to the ball and an overall poor effort resulted in a set one smacking, 17-25. Credit the girls for showing some pride and coming back in game two, eking out a 25-21 win to force a third game. But in game three, the Thunder was just that. A rash of Zia errors and some splendid Thunder defense did us in. We fell 7-15 and lost our first match.

In our second match, we took on the Az. Foothills 14-1’s team we took to the limit two weeks ago. Again, we came out looking slow and lost the first set 18-25. Set two, we came back and plowed them 25-15. Some great serving and some inspired defense helped us to game three. But in the third we again fell apart, losing 7-15.

Going down to division two, we had nothing to play for but pride, and the Diablos certainly have that is abundance. We took on the R-Pac 14-1’s team. After a closer than necessary first set, the Diablos took control of the match and won 25-22, 25-11 to take fifth on the day.

We take the elevator down to division two for our next tournament, unable to crack the top three for the third time this season. Two coaches came up and commented how they have improved, noting that our quick attack was coming around very effectively. But there is much work to do, and with a mini friendship tournament scheduled for Spring Break, and three practices next week, the Diablos will get even better.

Thanks for the support and we’ll see you at the gym…

The Diablos continued to see saw up and down with the best 14’s teams in Arizona with a second place finish at Dysart High School moving them up to the state ’s top division yet again.

In a total team effort, the Diablos took care of a scrappy and very well coached High Altitude 14’s team from Flagstaff. After some serve receive issues, the Diablos prevailed 25-10, 25-20.

In our second match, we traded some serious blows with the Arrowhead 13-1’s team. They raced toi an early and substantial lead, but the Diablos refused to die. They fought back. Down 20-14, they rallied in a big way and scored 11 of the next 12 points to win 25-21. In game two, it was Arrowhead that rallied from a deficit. In a great match, they fought back and our girls matched them serve for serve and kill for kill. In the end, a couple of mistakes cost us a close one, and we went to a third game losing 28-30. Game three, we held up our ends however, and beat the 13’s team 15-3 to earn a spot in division one.

Our last match was against the Foothills 14-1’s team we had missed in each of our first four tournaments. They rolled us in game one 25-11. But the Diablos again showed heart and fought back, taking game two 25-19 and forcing a third. We took an 8-4 lead at the turn but that evaporated quickly. We wound up dropping game three 15-11, but it showed us once again that any of these 14’s teams can be ours. The margin from the #1 seed to the #8 seed is very slim.

Thanks for all the Parents’ support. You all are really the heroes. Thanks from all of us.

Till next time…

The Diablos Move Back into the Region Attic

The never-say-die Diablos won two out of three matches on Saturday, February 7th at Cortez High school and earned a berth back into next week’s clash of the titans with the rest of the Region’s finest 14 ’s.

We came out a bit flat against the Thunder 14-2’s team, a good scrappy group. Down 20-15, the Diablos put the rally caps on and scored the last 10 points of the match to steal the first game away. In the second game, some nifty serving by MacKenzie sealed our win and we won the match 25-17.

The next match saw the Diablos fall into what we are hoping isn’t a pattern of losing focus. We played the Az. Sky 14- White Fire, a team we had no trouble with in the Cactus Classic. But on this day, we struggled to find a combination that worked well together. Sloppy play, silly mistakes and perhaps a lesson learned of taking opponents too lightly came back to haunt us. We were 1-1 in the tournament with a 21-25, 20-25 spanking.

Needing to win the 3rd place match to move up into the Region echelon, we played a team that has followed us up and down all season so far, the Grand Canyon 14-1’s. Unlike the last match, we came out with a sense of urgency. We piled on them 25-16 in the first game behind some stellar defense from libero Jenn and some great hitting from Kelli, Madison and Chelaine. In game two, we tried moving some things around. The effort was still there but Grand Canyon had an answer and some good serving, and we were headed to a third game, losing 19-25.

Game three was all-important, and that’s exactly how the team played. Some spectacular plays by Tanya, Erin and Kristy on the defensive end helped us roll 15-6 and send the Diablos north for next week’s showdown with the Region’s best.

Special props to Sam and Cassie, whose improvement in the middle is evident with each block and kill. Megan continues to earn her stripes on the court with some great swings, especially down the line and the Adriana who’s setting and hustle is improving with each passing day. There’s nothing better than winning with a total team effort. Congratulations Ladies.

Cactus Classic

The Zia 14-Diablos went down to Tucson and set the bar for season expectations at an incredible height in their first tournament, taking second place in the Cactus Classic held January 17th and 18th in the Old Pueblo.

Playing 700 points in 19 sets in just 17 hours, the Diablos showed an incredible will and amazing hustle all weekend long.

The tournament started with a three set drubbing of Club Summit’s 14-1’s team, 25-9, 25-23 and 25-13. (Since we were in a three-team pool instead of 4, we played our first two matches in a 3 out of 5 set format) We then worked the AZ Sky 14-Thunder team 25-10, 25-12, 25-14. I was proud of the girls for keeping their focus. Chelaine was pounding the middle and Kristy was running down every ball and giving our hitters ammunition. We finished first in our morning pool and stayed at Catalina High School for the P.M. pool.

We ran into a big team, the AZ Sky 14-White Fire in our first match. Sam was huge at the net, changing shots and intimidating hitters and Adriana was scouring the court defensively and putting up sets from everywhere. The girls served flawlessly and their defense was, as one coach told me later, like someone had laid carpet…nothing was hitting the floor! Jenn was like a water bug as our libero. We won going away 25-13, 25-10.

We next played our Zia 13-Doug team which had upset a few teams to get to this upper bracket. Megan took special interest in this match and played very well, hitting with confidence and forcing her Dad to rethink the whole “allowance” deal. We won 25-4, 25-20.

We went into Sunday without Laine’ and Samuel, and Tonya and I didn’t know what to think. But credit goes to Cassie and Madison. They were amazing. Cassie was blocking and controlling the middle and Madison showed just how versatile she is as a player by taking that position and making it her own.

Sunday started off with a bump. We played En Fuego’s 14-Black team. They were a tipping team and it took us a while to handle it. But our defense came around. MacKenzie and Erin played some big points in the back row, and we came back and won 19-25, 25-16, 15-4.

Next we took on a big and very talented AZ Thunder 14-1’s team. We trailed in every game of this match, and I mean big. But the girls showed the devil in them and they never caved. This was the best early season 14’s match I had ever seen played at such a high level. Again, showing our team’s versatility, I played Tanya as outside hitter and she responded by banging balls past the bigger blocks those last games. In the end, despite being down 10-6 in the rally 3rd game, the Diablos earned a trip to the Cactus Classic Finals with an improbable 25-21, 19-25, 15-11 win.

In the Finals, we took on the Region’s number one team, AZ Sky’s 14-Flames coached by Ed Martell who was our coach last year for our Club 14 champions. The drama was thick for sure. In the first game, they didn’t know what hit them. Kelli went mental on the service line hitting just about every zone Tonya called for and racked up 10 of our 25 points on aces and service winners as we clocked the Sky 25-8. Knowing that they were coming at us hard, we dug our heels in and battled. When the smoke cleared we were headed to a third set, losing 19-25. In the third, we again played catch up. Tired or not, our mantra for the day was no excuses, and they Diablos gave none. On this day, AZ Sky was the better team and we settled for second place, losing set number three, 9-15.

As a footnote, as I left the gym, there must have been 8-10 AZ Sky Parents that congratulated me on this team, telling me how wonderful they are and how great and scrappy they played.

I couldn’t have agreed with them more.


Region Tournament #1

The Zia 14-Diablos took a roller coaster route in their first Region tournament on the year as we mixed it up with the best 14 ’s teams in Arizona.

Seeded 5th out of the 6 teams in the Top 14’s pool in the Arizona Region, we drew the #1 team, the AZ Sky 14-1’s team for the second time in two weeks. We came out swinging and took the first game 25-23. In the second set, the Diablos played give and take the whole game. No team led by more than 3 at any given point. In a lesson of opportunities lost, we served for the match at 25-24, but eventually lost 25-27. In the rally game, almost a repeat of the Cactus Classic final six days ago, we dropped the match in the rally game 7-15.

We next took on Grand Canyon’s 14-1’s team. We match up well with their hitters and our size. We took the first set 25-21 but let down a bit in the second set 20-25. In THIS rally game though, the Diablos showed the Devil inside them and came out smoking, taking the match 15-8.

Our crossover match was against the Arizona Thunder 14-1’s team. The winner would stay in the top division and the loser would drop to division 2 in the next tournament. What baffles is that 6 days ago, we played a spectacular match against this big and very talented team and beat them for a trip to the Cactus Classic finals.

On this day however, we were nowhere to be seen. At 16 all in the first game, the bottom dropped out of our aggressiveness and it spelled disaster for us. We scored one more point the rest of the way in game two, losing 17-25 and then could only muster 8 total points in a thorough hiney-kicking in set two.

The effort was there, and sometimes you just hit a bad spot in the road. But it showed us all we have a lot of work to do to get the Diablos to the upper echelon of this age group with the AZ Sky’s, the Thunders and East Valley’s of the Region.
My guess is, they will…

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